A couple weeks ago we bought a car due to our minivan meeting an untimely end. I still shudder when I think about our poor minivan, exposed on the main commercial street in town, doors wide open for all to see its cheerios and trash. The minivan wasn't worth a whole heap of a lot so we went on the hunt for a new vehicle.
Have you shopped for a car lately? It's like a circus but without all the fun. Craigslist is always achieving new levels of odd and we even had one seemingly honest couple ask us to send money via Western Union and we would be sure to get the title to the car they were selling.
Yeah, no.
We even tried dealerships, which we always swore we would never do but we were getting desperate with the slim pickings on Craigslist. We looked at used minivans and the nice saleslady told us that the usual price for this van was $18k but as a special deal for us special, special customers she would let it go to us for the very secretive and amazing price of $16k. Matt told her we'd think about it and went out in the car to look up that dealer's inventory. Turns out, our special, secretive deal was the price listed on the internet for the same van.
Not so special anymore, are we?
We finally settled on an older Expedition (it's a longer version of the original, named 'Expedition El' which is Spanish for 'Expedition you cannot parallel park.'). We had to drive a few hours south but it was a nice older couple with meticulous record keeping, which is Matt's favorite type of people from which to buy.
On the way down, we stopped at a little dollar store to buy drinks as a treat for everyone. I bought Matt a bottle of Diet Coke and he showed me the label after we got back on the road:
It says "Share a Drink with Jess."
That's right - share a drink with me! Which is his favorite thing to do. I'm sure it's some sort of social media contest but still, it was quite exciting for us.
On the way home from getting our car, we stopped at a Wendy's to eat dinner.
Every time we eat at fast food, we remember why we try not to. As we sat forlornly at the table, staring glumly at our lukewarm fries and pathetic little burgers, I mused on the fact that we were the only people eating there at dinner time. My eyes wandered to the highway in front of the restaurant and settled on the IHOP across the street. In big block letters, its sign proclaimed "KIDS EAT FREE! 4PM-10PM!"
Son of a value fry - you've got to be kidding me! We could have been eating better food, maybe not great food but better food. And for half the cost! That put a damper on our evening, the thick, cold reality of the sad news covering us like a spilled Frosty.
We Won't Be Invited Back...
On a somewhat lighter note, the older two kids went to a local VBS in town a couple weeks ago. I grew up in church and my mom (and then my mom and I) ran VBS every year of my childhood. It's just as I remember - the cookie cutter boxed themes, the hand motions to every song, the overly exuberant leaders. But the kids really enjoy it.
We left VBS the last night, all of the participants and leaders streaming from the church to the parking lot. It was a nice evening and my windows were down. As I turned on the car, the radio began to blare.
I kid you not, the song playing at that moment on the classic rock station I was listening to on the way over just happened to be 'Highway to Hell.'
That's right - the CHORUS of 'HIGHWAY TO HELL' was blaring from my car as everyone from VBS walked to their cars.
<HIGHWAY TO HELL!>
"What's that? Yes, it was a very nice VBS."
<ON THE HIGHWAY TO HELL!>
"Yup, the kids did have fun. They sure did learn a lot about God's love tonight. Thanks for putting on such a great program."
<I'M ON THE HIGHWAY TO HELL!>
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